The present invention relates to a multiple position reclining chair assembly, and more particularly to improvements in wall avoiding chair assemblies of the type generally described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,743,349, wherein a chair seat is supported for forwardly directed movement relative to a support or base as the chair assumes a reclined position.
In this prior patent a linkage means is disclosed as being provided to operably interconnect a seat portion, a mounting linkage for a foot rest and a base portion or support, such that the seat portion may be moved from an upright position forwardly relative to the base portion into a reclined position, while at the same time the mounting linkage is actuated to move the foot rest between a collapsed storage position and an extended leg supporting position.
A drawback of this prior construction is that the pivotal connection between the front of the seat portion and its supporting strut is required to move along an arcuate path of travel as the seat portion moves between upright and reclined positions. Practical limitations imposed on the radius of curvature of this path of travel and the desire to maximize the extent of forwardly directed movement of the seat portion relative to the base portion in order to minimize required spacing between the back of the chair and an adjacent wall result in the pivotal connection being forced to undergo noticeable vertical displacements incident to its movement between positions corresponding to the upright and reclined positions of the seat portion. Such vertical displacements in any substantial degree are undesirable in that they increase the degree of effort which an occupant must exert to operate the chair and tend to subject the occupant to a high speed falling sensation, as the chair approaches one or the other of its upright and reclined positions.